


Hello Thirteen

by grassangel



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Fandom, Gen, Meta Poetry, Nonfiction, Prose Poem, Retrospective, contains mentions of River; Clara; Amy; Sarah Jane; Martha; Jenny; Donna and Romana, implied Doctor/Master shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-14 01:02:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15377289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grassangel/pseuds/grassangel
Summary: Reflecting and rejoicing on the Thirteenth Doctor's existence, a year out from the reveal and nine years from when I first dared to hope for her.





	Hello Thirteen

**Author's Note:**

> For the past year I've been reflecting and rejoicing on the casting of the Thirteenth Doctor. Part of that reflection was seeing how it took some people time to warm up to the idea and realising that I have been waiting a long time for the Doctor to be played by a woman and came to accept the possibility a long time ago.  
> Which brought back memories, some of which are backed up by old LJ entries and half-written fic I still have copies of, of rationalising to myself why and how the Doctor could be female. And perhaps most importantly, and the thing that brings tears of happiness to my eyes because _it came true_ , was the idea that it could happen with the Thirteenth Doctor.
> 
> So this is a love poem to Thirteen, to all the things that came before that made Jodie Whittaker's casting possible, and to 19-year old me who dared to imagine that one day the future would be female.

It’s 2009. David Tennant has announced he will be leaving the role of the Doctor. The 11th Doctor is still unknown, a year of specials still to go. The regeneration looms large on the horizon. It’s not your first regeneration, but it is your first with a Doctor that is _your_ Doctor, and one that is properly into the two digits.  
You are aware, of course, of the piece of lore that says Time Lords only have twelve regenerations, thirteen incarnations and wonder what that thirteenth one will be like. Eleven is too near, too soon to predict. Twelve is unknowable, an uncertain quantity. But Thirteen, ten or so years away, the end of a cycle and potentially the start of a new one?

You think you know who they will be.

It’s 2009. Gallifrey is dead and the Doctor has held his friend and his enemy as he died. The Doctor is alone again, the last of the Time Lords once more. But fandom is wise and tells you that the Master always comes back. (And besides, you’ve read rumours of who has been seen on set.)  
You think about what the Master said to the Doctor about being kept, the way the Doctor said they were the only two left.

You know that sexuality is fluid, that sex and gender are not binary. Last year’s biology textbook outlines reproductive strategies that species take to ensure they will survive. You wonder what strategies a species that can die so many times would have to survive and propagate.

You may be one of _those_ fans, but you know who you want Thirteen to be.

It’s 2009 and you know this thought is not unique. You know of Tom Baker’s joke, you know what path Sydney Newman thought the casting of the Doctor should eventually take. You’ve seen, embedded in someone else’s journal entry, a grainy video of Patrick Troughton entertaining the idea.  
But it’s only a joke, a suggestion, a theoretical possibility. A curiosity at best, at worst a fantasy by teenage fangirls.

In ten years time you think it won’t be a peculiar thought at all, and you think you know who Thirteen will be.

It’s 2009. It doesn’t matter that you have not seen the beginning or middle of River Song’s story, even though you have seen her end. You’ve never heard of the Corsair, never seen the General. It doesn’t matter that Amy hasn’t yet sat at a table with Silurians, or that Clara and her bravura are still to claim to be the Doctor and steal a TARDIS. You have not yet seen the Master waltz into the Doctor’s life again, skirts swirling and a new moniker on painted red lips.

But you have seen Sarah Jane, a companion from an era of Who derided for screaming girls that get captured, have adventures with companions and a sonic of her own.  
You’ve seen Martha, a black woman and a doctor in her own right, who walked into the TARDIS and then left for her own reasons, save the Earth.  
You’ve heard of Romana, who once stood tall and proclaimed herself Time Lord and now President of Gallifrey.  
You’ve met Jenny - a duplicate, a clone, a daughter twice over - and Time Lord enough to live and continue having adventures.  
You’ve wept over Donna; an equal and a friend to the Doctor and so bound up in his story they were the DoctorDonna, who was for one shining moment part Time Lord - as intelligent and brilliant as the Doctor.

You’ve seen them, and think you know who Thirteen will be.

 

It’s 2017. Years have passed. Eleven has gone and Twelve is heading out the door as well. You’ve fallen in love again with an idiot with a box and the adventures they have across time and space. The world has changed and so have you, but as you watch a hood pushed back, you aren’t surprised.

Because you knew long ago, and _finally_ , you get to say hello.


End file.
